


Heartless Reign Storm

by mystyrust



Category: Danny Phantom, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Reign Storm AU, eventual kh typical angst, heartless and ghosts are not the same creatures, kh lends itself so well to crossovers by virtue of being a crossover, kh1 sora, maleficent is briefly there, sam and tucker are pretty minor characters, sora helps battle pariah dark, sora is an excitable fanboy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22218886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystyrust/pseuds/mystyrust
Summary: Sora and co land in Amity Park, as it's on the brink of collapse from Pariah Dark's awakening. The ghost king, awakened from his thousands of years of slumber, commands an army of ghosts…and heartless. It’ll take the combined effort of the keyblade wielder and the local ghosts to restore harmony. Takes place during KH1 and Reign Storm in DP canonMy take on if Amity Park was a playable/visitable world in KH
Comments: 14
Kudos: 37





	1. Touchdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never written a kh fanfic so I'm taking a wild stab in the dark with this.
> 
> maybe sort of kind of inspired by this brilliant cosplay skit that is 10+ years old  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itXmwmpVpHM

The Gummi ship’s next stop was a world called ‘Amity Park’ – the presence of heartless alerting the crew to stop by and deal with it immediately. The ship’s radar picked up another strange reading, though – another world was in close proximity – but neither Sora, Donald, nor Goofy could find it on the map or visually confirm the presence of another world.

They land in the cover of night time, expecting the quiet to mask their presence, as they park the Gummi ship in the outskirts of a metropolitan area. The Gummi ship was their home away from home – its holographic capabilities could disguise itself as any vehicle or building necessary. It was also somewhat of an advanced transformer – the ship had beds, a functioning kitchen, and other features that Sora had yet to explore. It was hard to understand Donald’s explanation, and Sora figured he could wing it by pressing enough buttons to get what he needs.

For Sora, the Gummi ship was his only home, after the island he lived on was swallowed by the heartless. Before that, he was just a normal 14 year old boy, dreaming of exploring the world with his best friends. He tries not to think too hard on that – they were on a mission to restore lost worlds and find the seven princesses of hearts and find Kairi and Riku! He didn’t fully understand the details, but he knew that finding the princesses and closing Kingdom Hearts would save all worlds and he could go back home. Riku probably had a better understanding of the big picture.

The cover of the night is far from quiet. Sounds of an aerial battle can be heard just outside the gummi ship – shots fired, insults hurled. Sora, Goofy, and Donald head outside immediately to survey the situation; a metallic…robot? is fighting a white haired humanoid figure. Both were suspended in the air, surrounded by an eerie white glow. How were the flying like that – some upgraded Aero spell?! And that dash of white hair…it couldn’t be? Could it?

“Riku!” Sora calls out, while running to the scene of the battle. “Riku! Where’ve you been??” Did Riku get a haircut? He summons his keyblade, anticipating a battle

Sora arrive just in time to see the robot disappear inside a …cylinder? Somehow it was sucked in by a beam of blue light. Weird.

“Riku! What’s that can of blue light??”

“It’s not a can, it’s a Fenton Thermos!” The humanoid – not Riku, ugh – turns around. Sora now has a better look at the simple black jumpsuit – with a white belt, collar, and gloves – that the other guy’s wearing. A stylized “D” logo is on the jumpsuit’s chest. And that eerie glow…

“Who are you?” The glowing boy asks. He looks a little younger than Riku, maybe about Sora’s age.

“I could ask you the same,” Sora shifts his keyblade behind him. Inhabitants of other worlds are not supposed to know about the keyblade if they’re not directly involved with the heartless. It didn't look like the boy was fighting a heartless...

“Oh. Well,” The floating boy is surprised. “I’m Danny Phantom, Your… friendly, neighborhood, ghost boy?”

“Oh! You’re a ghost?!”

“…You must be new around here, huh?” Phantom takes notice of Goofy and Donald catching up behind Sora. “Really new. Those friends of yours look like they just missed last week’s comic con,” Ah, they’d have to set up Goofy and Donald’s assimilation camouflage real soon; guess this was one of those worlds where an anthropomorphic duck and dog would definitely raise a lot of eyebrows. But Sora had more pressing questions at the moment.

“What were you fighting just now? Was it all eerie and black and goopy, with – ”

“It was a ghost,” Phantom yawns. “Man, it’s like 3 am, what’re you even doing out on a school night?” The ghost boy sure sounds cranky. “I’m not gonna be able to get enough sleep and finish that dumb reading,” Phantom facepalms.

“Ghosts go to school?” Goofy asks.

“Uh…y-ye – No, it’s just, none of your business! It’s all a… metaphor! Yeah! F-for my personal business!” with that, the ghost boy zips out of sight, flying in the direction of the town. The boy had a point – it was far too early in the morning to be investigating heartless, they could make better progress in the day time. They’d traveled quite a ways, and they weren’t sure if they would even find Maleficent or any of the princesses. They just know from the Gummi ship’s Heartless contamination radar that this world is at risk of being swallowed by the darkness – very soon.

“C’mon, Sora, let’s try again in the morning,” Goofy says with a yawn. “No one’s awake for us to ask any questions, to, anyway.”

The trio walk back to the Gummi ship in silence, for the most part. 

“You know, Sora,…not every white haired boy is Riku,”

“Jeez, Donald! I know that!”

Goofy and Donald were too sleepy to question Sora’s uncharacteristic silence. While they were asleep within minutes of head landing on pillow, Sora lay wide awake in his bed, deep in thought.

If Destiny Islands hadn’t fallen to the darkness, and if he didn’t have the responsibility of the keyblade, Sora would’ve been starting high school with Kairi and Riku, swimming in the ocean with Wakka. Sparring with Selkie. Playing Blitzball with Tidus. 

School never seemed so…enticing before. Adventure was fun and all – Donald made sure Sora wasn’t academically behind and tutored him during their downtime – but Sora was uprooted from all he’s ever known to save the world because of some weird looking magic sword that chose him. He hoped he could finish it soon, and put it all behind him. And go back to how life was before.

School… that ghost boy was talking about school. That could be their first stop in their investigation. Maybe they could find out more about whatever that fight was between the friendly neighborhood ghost boy and the other ghost. Maybe one of them knew about any heartless showing up? It would be nice if they could find out anything about Riku or Kairi along the way, too.

* * *

The next day, Donald was up bright and early, casting a series of spells for his and Goofy’s assimilation camouflage. Donald transformed from a 4 foot tall white duck to a 5 foot tall man with graying hairs; the sailor outfit stayed. Goofy’s transformation was less dramatic – his snout mouth disappeared and his floppy ears turned into locks of black hair. Goofy could pass for a man in his 30s, while Donald looked to be closer to a man in his 50s. Oh boy.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy began their search for the heartless the same way the always had – they waltzed out of the Gummi ship, wandering around town and waiting for the heartless to attack them. The heartless always seem to hone in on a keyblade wielder, so this approach always worked out. But a few hours of wandering around in broad daylight and the shopping district without a heartless in sight, it became clear that the trio needed a new approach.

Socializing.

Donald dreaded socializing, but Goofy and Sora seemed to take it at it very well; Donald decided he’d just settle for browsing the news, while his two children roamed the mall.

“We can’t find much info, Donald,”

“It’s only been 10 minutes, Sora,”

“I mean, no one seems to know about the heartless! They keep talking about ghosts instead. They keep saying this is a ghost infested town but I haven’t seen a single ghost yet!”

“Besides that ghost boy,” Goofy adds. “Hmm ya know? The towns’ folk here say that most ghosts target the local high school. Uhhh…Casper High, they called it.”

“I’m sure one of those ghosts can tell us about the heartless!”

“Heartless?” an elderly man and woman walking by couldn’t help but interject into the trio’s conversation. “Well most ghosts certainly are, but not Inviso-Bill,” The elderly woman says.

“Gawrsh, who’s ‘Inviso-Bill’?”

“He’s the town menace, is what he really is,” The elderly man steps forward to add. “All the town’s property damage is his fault, and he beckons more of those ghosts to come by! He should just stay where he came from!”

“Now, now, dear, that’s not nice,”

“And shouldn’t you be in school, lad?” The elder man gestures to Sora. Oh, no.

“Uhhh, he’s… here on a field trip and got separated from his class?” Donald finally adds. The elder man takes a one up and down look at Donald.

“Make sure to whip that whipper snapper into shape!” he declares, before walking away with his wife.

“Oh, thank goodness that’s over,” Sora breathes a sigh of relief “I don’t know why some people can be so rude,” 

“Maybe it has to do with the recent ghost attacks. They’ve been happening more often lately.” Donald flips through the newspaper. “Mostly at night though. Often in the school district.”

“Ok, then. New plan! I scope out the school!” Sora declares.

“Gawrsh, school sounds like fun!”

“No No! School enrollment is…a nightmare!!”

“Well, other than explaining to people why I’m not in school. I can…scope out the local gossip!”

“Oh, please, you can find out everything about the local gossip right here,” Donald ruffles the newspaper in his hand.

“Gawrsh, I think it’s a good idea though,”

It's not like Sora _wanted_ to go to - ok he totally wanted to go to school. But he _had_ to go to the school to blend in and figure out what kids his age were talking about. Anything else that he wanted to do was just a bonus. 

* * *

“So, Mr. Donald and Mr…Goofy? Is that right? You want to enroll your nephew at Casper High?”

Sora is seated with Donald and Goofy in the Principal’s office. Principal Ishiyama is a short woman, her red blazer and suit contrasting with the plain walls of her office. If the students dressed in such strange colors too, then Sora would fit right in, with his baggy red shorts and jacket.

“That’s right,” Goofy responds. “Ya see, we just moved in to town,”

“Our jobs require us to travel a lot,” Donald supplies, “So we ended up moving here in…the middle of the school year,”

“I see,” the principal hands Donald a stack of papers. “If you could finish this paperwork and supply the requested documents, your nephew can start attending school as early as tomorrow!”

It was quite the stack of papers. They had to provide proof of residency, as well as Sora’s health records and previous academic course work. Jeez, the high school at Destiny Islands wasn’t so bad, was it? Or maybe his records already existed since he’d lived on the islands all his life??

Sora’s stomach grumbles in protest. They'd wandered around all day, learning more about ‘ghosts’ than the heartless, and they hadn’t had a proper meal. Sora searches for local restaurants in Amity Park, and eventually decides upon ‘The Nasty Burger’.

“Be back soon with dinner, Donald!” Sora waves on his way out.

Thankfully, Goofy accompanied Sora to the burger joint – Sora needed the backup.

“No, don’t go that way! There’s a ghost fight!” a civilian stops to warn Sora just before running away in the opposite direction. Of course, Sora and Goofy don’t heed the warning – Sora summons his keyblade and Goofy summons his shield, both ready to fight.

The ghost boy they saw last night – Danny Phantom – is floating on top of some tables, surrounded on all sides by floating creatures, but he seemed to be having some trouble. Phantom was pointing the open end of his can, trying to absorb the creatures in the blue light – but unlike last night, it didn’t work. 

“Come on, freaking thermos, work!”

Sora jumps into action, using the tables as a stepping stone to jump even higher – his keyblade strikes one creature true in the chest, and the telltale pink heart escapes from its dissolved form.

“That’s a heartless!” Sora informs Phantom.

“Now that’s just rude,”

“No, I mean, it’s a creature that devours strong hearts! Let me help you!”

“Well, seeing as you managed to beat one, I’ll take your help!”

“You can tell it’ a heartless by the heart emblem on its chest!” Sora adds.

“That makes no sense and perfect sense at the same time!” Phantom responds. The heartless weren’t made of ectoplasm, but they sort of behaved like ghosts.

With Sora’s keyblade out, the heartless circle around Sora, ignoring Phantom. A couple humans – a boy and a girl – had lingered, attempting to give Phantom a hand during the battle. Phantom allowed them to join the battle and didn’t wave them away, Sora noted. They had their own weapons, but seemed to be having trouble landing any critical damage, too. A short battle later, Goofy and Sora had defeated all the heartless, with barely a scratch. The heartless were pretty low level but there were a lot of them

“My ecto blasts barely did any damage to them, how’d you –?” Phantom’s guard is up, keeping his distance from Sora and Goofy. “You’re not ghost hunters, are you?!”

“No, No!” Sora answers a little too quickly.

Phantom glances at Sora and Goofy’s clothing. Too colorful to be with the Guys in White, and Sora looked about his age. He cautiously floats closer to the keyblade wielder.

“You called them,…heartless?” 

“Yeah, they can be hard to fight sometimes,”

“And you’ve fought them before? Wait…” Phantom pauses, as if trying to remember something, “I’ve seen you before, haven’t I? Last night, when I was fighting Skulker!”

“Yeah, that’s me!” Sora responds with a wide grin on his face. “You said you were Danny Phantom. So you’re like, a local superhero! Right?”

“Y-yeah,” Phantom’s guard just about drops. “Look, I gotta go, I don’t have much time left, but I have questions – a lot of questions – to still ask you. Maybe these ‘heartless’ things have something to do with why all the ghosts are spooked and attacking town more often. I dunno. Guess I’ll…see ya around.” Phantom was wary of accepting a fighting teenager’s help against these creatures – the only other teenager capable of fighting ghosts was the Red Huntress, and she was out for Phantom’s ectoplasmic blood; what’s to say Sora isn’t like that? Phantom waves to Sora before flying away from the burger joint.

“Bye!” Sora waves, not sure if Phantom can hear or not. “He’s so cool!”

“Gawrsh, he must’ve had a strong heart, if the heartless were ganging up on him like that,”

“Yeah…”

Sora, Goofy, and Donald typically try not to get the locals involved with the heartless as much as possible, but sometimes it’s inevitable. Well, Sora and Goofy sure worked up an appetite for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 'assimilation camouflage' magic and the gummi ships ability to camouflage is inspired by 3Below (on netflix)


	2. Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora joins Casper High and doesn't take long to find ghosts. Danny is suspicious of the new guy.

“Hello everyone,” Lancer’s voice rang out in his homeroom classroom, quieting the rowdy high school freshmen. “We have a new student joining Casper High today. Come on in and introduce yourself,” Lancer gestures towards the classroom door. Sora walks in with a confident stride.

“Hi everybody! My name’s Sora! I moved into Amity Park recently, hope we can be friends!”

“Thank you Sora. Please grab an empty seat, and our lesson will begin.”

Truthfully, Sora wasn’t paying that much attention to the lesson – it was his first time being surrounded by so many kids his age!! He wanted to whisper and pass notes and get to know his new (if temporary) peers, but he didn’t want to get himself or anyone else in trouble so quickly. Sora instead opted to listen in on other people’s whispers.

“Who moves _into_ Amity Park, the most haunted town in America?”

“Cheap property from all those ghost attacks, maybe,”

“Is he a geek?”

“Kinda cute though,”

“Weird clothes. Wonder where he’s from.”

Great! With everyone’s attention on him and wanting to get to know him, he’ll have no problem asking around about ghosts and the heartless! This’ll be easy.

* * *

“Right after the new kid shows up, these weird hard to fight ‘heartless’ appear, and now Vlad is staying at my place?? This is too much of a coincidence, guys.” Danny complains to his friends, Sam and Tucker.

“Yeah, but he could fight those heartless things! And unlike Valerie, he’s not pointing his sword at you.” Sam rebuttals. As a self-proclaimed ‘goth’, Sam knows what it means to be a social outcast, and wouldn’t want to put that on another person just because of unfortunate coincidences.

“I’m not sure it’s a sword,” Tucker adds. “I snapped some pictures from The Nasty Burger fight and did some internet research – couldn’t find anything about what kind of weapon he was using. It didn’t look like it was powered by ecto-energy either.” As the technology nerd, Tucker researched and cataloged everything they knew about ghost weapons and artifacts on his phone.

“I couldn’t find much about the heartless in any occult folklore,” Sam adds. She typically researched and cataloged the actual ghosts themselves, noting their personal histories along with any weaknesses. “Unless you count sappy romance poems.”

“Then, this is like nothing we’ve ever seen or fought before,” Danny groans.

“There’s nothing wrong with asking a stranger for help, Danny. Maybe you could give him pointers about the whole secret identity thing – he seemed to be fighting alongside you in broad daylight.”

Danny Phantom kept Amity Park safe from (evil) ghosts, but he can’t fight as effectively against the heartless; they don’t get absorbed inside the Fenton Thermos, and ectoplasmic attacks aren't very effective, for some reason. Nobody knew Danny Phantom was a half human hybrid, and that Danny Fenton’s grades suffered because of ill-timed ghost attacks. Keeping his Phantom identity separate from his Fenton identity gave Danny some privacy from news reporters – but this new kid, Sora, made the rookie mistake of not even covering his face. Oh boy.

Sora seemed pretty friendly outside battle, so maybe he _coud_ be an ally... 

A puff of cold air escapes Danny’s mouth – his ghost sense, alerting him to the presence of a new ghost. Great. Well, at least it was lunch period.

It didn’t take long for Danny to find Pointdexter and Dora – two ghosts he’d fought a long time ago – hiding out in an empty classroom. That’s…all they were doing actually. They weren’t even causing any destruction.

“Uhm…what are you doing?”

“Hiding!” Pointdexter responds emphatically. “We figured if we came to your school, we could…ask for your help.”

“My help for…what? What are you hiding from?”

“Our homes in the ghost zone have been destroyed! The fright knight, he’s commanding some strange army of black creatures.”

“They’re like ghosts, but different,” Dora puts an arm on Pointdexter’s shoulder. “They don’t have enough protoplasmic imprints to have ever been alive. They’re like…shades. Barely sentient, mindlessly following orders. They ravaged our lairs with such cruelty.”

“Heartless,”

Danny, Dora, and Pointdexter turn to the source of the new voice – Sora, standing at the entrance of the classroom. When did he get there?

“Or, at least I think they’re heartless, based on what you said.”

“What’re you –?”

“Sorry, I was just walking by when I happened to overhear,” Sora interjects. “But I could say the same for you! What’re you doing here? Do you secretly go to school here or something?”

“No!” Danny answers a little too quickly. “I mean…I hang around this place. A lot. That’s all!”

“It’s not just our lairs that were destroyed. Skulker, Ember, Technus, even Box Ghost are all homeless!”

“Oh man” Danny facepalms. “If you’re not causing any trouble, I have no reason to fight you. But knowing Skulker, he’ll be out for my skin. I’m gonna change back before he can paint a target on my back, and –“ Danny notices Sora, intently watching from the door of the classroom.

“ – Later. New kid, you and I still need to talk! I can’t have random civilians joining battle unless I know they won’t get hurt! Word of advice, Wear a mask and cover your face. You don’t want people in our town getting all up in your business with these ghosts and heartless.”

It was barely a whisper, but Danny heard Sora’s response right before flying out of the room.

“I’m doing this so that I have a home to go back to.”

* * *

The next class on Sora's schedule was astronomy. Astronomy – as Donald had told him – was one of those subjects that was different in every world. Every world had their own technology to view and calculate the distances between the stars in space. The technology of this world seemed to have rudimentary space travel that didn’t proceed beyond the nearest moon – people would _flip_ if they knew Sora had visited a couple of the stars they’re talking about in class.

After attending a few classes during the day, Sora had a general understanding of the dynamic of the freshman students. There were the A-listers – generally did not participate in class, came from upper class backgrounds; the nerds and geeks – those who had a passion that they hyperfixated on, but tended to be bullied for it by the A-listers; the goth kids – chose to dress in fashionably dark clothes; the middle men – those who tried their hardest not to stand out or be bullied.

Most friend groups tended to have people of the same social status – the A-listers (composed of sports jocks and cheerleaders) were all friends, the nerds were all friends, the teachers were all friends; very rarely was there intermingling across social groups. It seemed the A-listers tended to bully the other social groups into submission.

The ghost boy seemed to fall outside all these social divides - he wasn't a student, but looked old enough (or, young enough?) to be one. When word got out of a Phantom sighting in school, there were...mixed reactions. Some were excited and were actively looking for him, while others were hiding to escape a potential ghost fight. Did the ghost boy ever feel like he missed out on school? Is that why he hangs around Casper High so much?

The closest to a diverse social circle that Sora could observe was the group of 3 friends sitting a few rows in front of him in Astronomy – goth-activist Sam Manson, technogeek Tucker Foley, and sort of nerd Danny Fenton. In Astronomy Danny was the only one paying attention, asking and answering question based on some pre-assigned reading about gravity and star systems. 15 minutes before class let out, Danny had to use the bathroom and didn’t return. Apparently, he was infamous for using the bathroom for a long time, multiple times per day – poor guy must have a terrible digestive system.

“So, new guy, how’re you liking Casper High?” Sam approaches Sora after class, hoping to get to know the new guy.

“It’s so cool! I’ve never been to a school this big before!”

“You think Casper High is big?” Tucker raises his brow.

“Well, yeah! I’ve never been surrounded by so many kids my age! The town I grew up in didn’t have huge classrooms, and I’ve been homeschooled recently, so it’s nice to be in a school building again!”

“Oh my god this poor child,”

“Anyway,” Sora starts, turning the conversation around. “I wanted to ask: what’s up with the ghosts around town? Apparently this is a haunted town, but I’ve barely seen any ghosts, aside from the ghost boy. Is it some publicity stunt?”

“Oh, you’re lucky you haven’t seen any yet. Where there’s ghosts there’s bound to be a battle and collateral damage. Best bet is to run away, and let the professionals handle it.” Sam responds.

“You mean like ‘Inviso-Bill’ and ‘Danny Phantom’?” Tucker snorts. “And are you guys professionals? I saw you helping Phantom fight at the Nasty Burger yesterday.” Sora hadn’t seen Danny Fenton at the Nasty Burger fight, and he sure hadn’t seen where he disappeared to, right after class.

“Well, we have access to some Fenton tech, so sometimes we give a helping hand…here or there,” Sam responds stiffly. Huh, they must get it from their friend Danny Fenton, then. Was Fenton tech special?

“What about you? Are you a professional?” Tucker asks. “Cuz I did see you fighting, too.” Sora walked right into that one.

“Well…I wouldn’t call myself a ‘professional’…anything, really. But the weapon I use is designed to strike down specific types of creatures, so I only use it then.”

“So you’re not a ghost hunter?” Sam asks.

“I wouldn’t say so. I never knew ghosts were a thing until I moved here yesterday!”

* * *

The new kid was too naïve and happy go lucky to be a contracted ghost hunter against Phantom, and too colorful and young to be a member of the Guys in White. It couldn't hurt to use his help.

Sam and Tucker loiter outside the boys’ bathroom, waiting for Phantom to come back and revert to Fenton.

“Thanks for stalling him, guys.” Danny says as he comes out.

“Any progress with the ghosts?” Tucker asks.

“Skulker and I worked together to fight off those goopy black heartless creatures.”

“No way!”

“I know, and he’s calling all ghosts for a meeting tonight. Apparently the Fright Night is the least of our worries.” 

Danny groans as he swaps books at his locker for his next class.

“Well, I almost went an entire period without my fake IBS. Did you find out what the new kid knows anything about the strange creatures? He fought them off faster than we could.”

“I get the feeling he knowa more than he lets on.” Sam responds. “He’s not an enemy, I don’t think, but he’s more likely to open up to Phantom.”

“Noted.”

* * *

Sora finds a note attached to the inside of his locker, before the last period of the day.

‘Meet at Casper High Football field tonight at 10pm. Need to talk ghost and heartless fighting strategy w allies. You able? Y/N. -DP’

Sora circles the Y. Only his first day of school, and they finally made progress on investigating the heartless in this world! He’d bring Donald and Goofy with him too.

Sora spends his free period researching ghosts on the school’s computer.

“Top 10 ghost fights of 20XX”, “Who is Inviso-Bill and why does he live in Amity Park?”, “Ghosts of Amity Park index and analysis” – he watched every single one of them. Phantom was the coolest ghost of Amity Park, by far, and Sora was so giddy that he had the chance to talk to him twice already.

And not only that! He maybe sort of made friends! But…how long would a friendship he makes here last? Once he leaves Amity Park…what becomes of any friends he makes here? Could he keep in contact with them? Would they get along with Riku and Kairi?

Sora shakes his head and slaps his face – he’s getting ahead of himself. He was here on a mission to find and defeat the heartless, and find Riku and Kairi. Not to mention that Goofy and Donald _were_ his friends no matter which world they were in. Yeah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of scene transitions /pov shifts in this one


	3. Collaboration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phantom recruits Sora's help, Sora has a dilemma, and Pariah Dark makes a move

At 9:59 pm, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are at the Casper High football field, waiting for the ghost boy. Donald was against it at first –

“It’s irresponsible to be out this late at night!”

“Villains don’t have curfew and neither do heroes! Besides, I’ll have you two by my side!”

– But eventually the three of them agreed to go. They didn’t have to wait long for Phantom to show up.

“Hey,…Didn’t know you’d bring friends,” Phantom says.

“They can fight the heartless, too! They’re pretty good with magic!”

“Oh good. Magic. It’s real. What else is new? Please don’t answer that.” Phantom deadpans. “I need to take you guys to where the actual meeting is gonna take place. We’re meeting with a bunch of ghosts to try and understand what’s going on in the ghost zone.”

“Ghosts?!” Donald exclaims.

“Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. We all have a sort of truce going on, to try and figure out what these heartless are. That’s where you come in.”

“Gawrsh,”

“You ready?” When everyone nods yes, Phantom holds on to the three of them effortlessly, and…flies underground. They float _through_ the ground and fly in some indeterminate direction, until they appear inside a warehouse of some sort. Phantom sets them all down, their bodies turning corporeal the moment they let go of the ghost boy.

“Woah! That was cool!” Sora’s eyes light up with excitement.

“Aaaaahh!” Donald’s signature startle cries out, when he notices just how many ghosts were in the room with them. And some looked particularly big and menacing.

“Alright, now that everyone’s here, let’s start from the beginning,” Phantom rallies everyone’s attention. “What are you guys doing outside the ghost zone? Pointdexter and Dora mentioned your lairs being destroyed by…heartless? Some heartless creatures. And apparently The Fright Knight is out claiming this territory for the King of Ghosts.”

“Years and years ago, before any of us came to existence,” a metallic ghost with a flaming mohawk begins.

“There was the King of Ghosts – Pariah Dark. He could command any type of creature to do his bidding. Any creature, except humans. Many creatures hid from Pariah Dark by escaping to the human world, so the King of Ghosts launched an invasion to claim the human realm as his own. A council of ancients, with powerful ghost artifacts, were able to separate Pariah Dark from the sources of his power – the crown of fire and the ring of rage – and seal him in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. He has been sleeping there all this time, until now. And he’s set out to do what he failed, thousands of years ago – take over the human realm, and every other realm he can get his hands on.”

The room is in silence, once the robot ghost finished his story. The older ghosts – those who seemed to know this story – were somber, but those who didn’t know the story were still trying to process the details of the story.

“Wait, I thought he could only be awoken if someone disturbed the Sarcophagus,” a ghost in overalls spoke up. Phantom facepalms, muttering something about "Vlad" and "thai dumb ring" under his breath.

“Skulker, I think…your _employer_ might have _disturbed_ the Sarcophagus. Probably on purpose.” Phantom sighs. “Think again before you take a job from him next time. Assuming there is a next time.”

“Actually, I have a solution to our problems.” The robot ghost – Skulker – responds. “I snuck back into the ghost zone, trying to salvage equipment from my destroyed lair, and I found the presence of a peculiar human.”

Audible gasps from the ghosts fill the room.

“This human offered to defeat Pariah Dark for us,” That seemed too good to be true.

“Why would they offer to help? And what’s their power like?” Phantom asked.

“Tall, thin, with a strange, black horned crown. Long robes. Powerful magic. Seemed to be…aware of the heartless creatures and was able to fight a few of them off very easily.” Sora gulps.

“By any chance…was her name…Maleficent?”

“You know her?”

“Whatever she says, don’t trust her!” Sora yells emphatically. “She’s probably going to recruit him to her side so that she can summon and control the heartless! Or harvest his heart. Either way…she’s the reason my home was overrun by the heartless.”

A lot of gasps resonate from everyone in the room, including Goofy and Donald.

“Sora, we aren’t supposed to –“ “They can’t know we’re – ”

“I think they should know the bare minimum!” The trio’s hushed exchange of whispers don’t last long.

“But why should we fight when someone powerful is offering to do it for us?” A medieval ghost girl asks – Dora, that was her name.

“Because the moment you take a favor from someone powerful, you fall into their debt.” Sora responds. “And when said powerful person has a history of abusing pawns, that’s not a favor you want to take.” This garners Sora a few thoughtful looks from the ghosts. 

“I wouldn’t put it past her to do to your home, what she did to mine,” A surprised, but understanding, expression crosses Phantom’s face.

“Why offer trust to someone who hasn’t earned it?” Phantom adds. “If we want to protect our homes, we should do it together. With all of our power combined, we can take Pariah Dark down! Who’s with me?!”

The ghosts laugh, making Phantom’s bravado speech seem like a childish performance from a play.

“No one stands up to the King of Ghosts and lives to tell the tale. I’d search for a new home if I were you, kid,” a ghost advises.

“If no one lived to tell the tale, than how do we know the tale?!” Phantom fires back. “Someone must have survived to seal him in the first place. Someone else must have survived to tell the tale,”

The ghosts stop in their tracks, as they were about to leave. It looks like some of them are reconsidering what they can and should do.

“We’ll join you, Phantom!” Sora offers. “We can fight the heartless!”

“I’ll join, too,” a nasally voice speaks up. Pointdexter – another ghost Sora recognized from Casper High. “He’s being an awful bully,”

“I’ll help!” A ghost in overalls adds. “He’s destroying all boxes! Then I won’t have any!”

“I-I’ll join, too,” a quiet voice in the back – Dora. "There's just...something about owing other people favors that...I've done a lot of. And I don't like that." 

Choruses of agreement ring through the group – not everyone’s agreed, but enough allies have joined to give Phantom confidence.

“Thank you, all of you,” Phantom says quietly, grateful and deep in thought. “Between us, we can take a huge chunk out of The Ghost King’s army. The heartless aren’t affected by ecto-energy and have a heart emblem on them…” Phantom turns to Sora.

“We have our work cut out for us. We can still make it. And…I have an idea to increase the odds in our favor. I'll need to stock up on Fenton tech.”

Sora nods in agreement.

“Let me take you back to the football field,”

Phantom grabs on to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, phasing through the roof and flying them back to where they first met.

* * *

Donald had his suspicions the moment they touched down on this world, but it was somewhat confirmed after the meeting with the ghosts.

“The ghost zone is another world!” Donald proclaims, after stringing his deductions together.

“Whaddaya mean?”

“Remember how the Gummi ship picked up the signal of two worlds, but we only saw one, when we landed? I think the other world is the ghost zone that the ghosts live in!”

“Huh, interesting. Is it common to see worlds intertwine like that?” Sora asks.

“No!” Donald exclaims. “Every world is separate and is meant to stay that way! Remember what they said - the Ghost King is trying to take over this world, and when he succeeds he’ll try to take over every world!”

“So that means we have to help beat him!” Sora responds. That wasn’t anything new, but Goofy seemed to understand what Sora couldn’t.

“It means…after we beat Pariah Dark…we have to restore the balance of the worlds, and seal off the ghost zone from Amity Park.”

What?!

Sure, that would prevent unwanted ghost and heartless attacks on the civilians…

“But what about Phantom?” Sora asks. “What does sealing off the ghost zone mean for him? And any other good ghosts? Phantom seems to secretly go to school at Casper High,”

“Oh…gawrsh, hadn’t thought about that,” Donald is resigned to thought, too.

“Why don’t we put this conversation off till later?” Sora suggests. “We can learn more about Phantom too,” And maybe, just maybe, Sora could convince them to not seal off the ghost zone from Amity Park. Just sealing Pariah Dark’s sarcophagus with his keyblade should be enough to restore balance to both the ghost zone and Amity Park.

Sora’s thoughts are cut off by a massive earthquake. The trio rush outside their Gummi ship home, trying to find any source of the rumbling. Though the ground quaked, it was the sky that showed the most damage. The cloudy night sky was replaced with an eerie glowing green energy, with islands swirling and floating around everywhere.

“Attention, citizens of Amity Park!” a loud announcement could be heard from multiple speakers across town. “This is Jack Fenton, resident ghost expert. Amity Park has been siphoned into the ghost zone! I repeat Amity Park is INSIDE the ghost zone!”

Sora anxiously bit his lip – Donald’s concerns were coming true, almost too soon. They have to defeat Pariah Dark _now_.

“Please evacuate to inside the Fenton Anti Ghost shield! We’re expanding its radius to cover as much of the town as possible!” The announcement continued. “If your home is not contained within the shield’s radius, please relocate yourself as fast as possible!”

The trio were lucky – their Gummi ship was just within the shield’s radius; they didn’t even have to move the ship. But what about the ghost boy? How were they going to meet up with Phantom to fight Pariah Dark if the ghost shield was going to keep him out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skipped some canon events from Reign Storm in an attempt to keep this mostly in Sora's POV.


	4. Execution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the final boss battle. This entire fic exists bc I wanted to write this chapter

It wasn’t long before town’s ghost experts called a meeting in their family home. The Fenton house – Sora soon learns – is filled to the brim with anti-ghost technology. If Phantom uses Fenton tech, he must work together with them fairly often, huh?

“Currently, the most powerful weapon in our arsenal is the Ecto-Skeleton” Jack Fenton explains to the listening citizens gathered in his basement lab. Among them, Sora finds a few of his classmates – including Sam, Tucker, and Danny.

“It drains a lot of energy and given our circumstances, it’s not tested.” Jack continues. “So I’ll be using it,”

“No! I’ll use it!” His wife, Maddie Fenton, protests. “You’re still weak from the first time you used it!”

“No mom, I’ll use it,”

“No, I will!”

“It has to be me!”

The town meeting quickly dissolves into physical infighting, with people knocking each other unconscious to prevent them from using the suit.

“Uncivilized, rowdy people,” Donald sneers.

“Sora,” Goofy whispers. “Look,” Goofy points in the direction of the stairs, leading outside the lab – Sam, Tucker, and Danny are using the distraction to leave the town meeting unnoticed. Sora follows suit.

“ –unds shadier than making a deal with Vlad. It can’t get any worse, unless he makes a deal with whoever this ‘Maleficent’ is too.” Sora hears Danny say.

No one should know who Maleficent is – except the ghosts! So how does Danny…?

Danny must know Phantom. Danny Fenton must know Danny Phantom! Phantom must have told Fenton what they discussed in their truce meeting with all the other ghosts. In that case, maybe Danny can get in touch with Phantom, despite the ghost shield keeping him out!

“You know the ghost boy!” Sora interrupts.

“Woah! Uh…yeah that’s right!” Danny responds. “We, uh we were –”

“We’re figuring out our next steps, based on what Phantom told us,” Tucker says a little quickly. “He did mention you by name and that you could help.”

“Why don’t you tell the adult Fentons that you know the ghost boy?” The moment Sora sees his classmate’s reactions, he regrets his question almost instantly.

“The Fentons are ghost _hunters_. Phantom is a ghost.” Danny says, matter-of-factly. “They get along as well as oil and water.”

“Anyway,” Sam cuts in, “Here’s the plan. Danny will get the Ecto-Skeleton to Phantom, who’ll wear it and fly out to Pariah Dark’s lair. Sora, you and your friends and the rest of the ghosts who’re joining the fight will ride with us in the Specter Speeder. Once we drop you off, you’ll face off hordes of Pariah Dark’s soldiers.

“You don’t want to waste your energy beating every single soldier, or defeating Pariah Dark in battle,” Tucker adds. “You just need to lock him in the coffin,”

“I can do that!” Sora nods.

“Good, let’s head to the Specter Speeder,”

Since the adult Fentons and all the towns folk were arguing (and comically beating each other unconscious) the Spector Speeder was unguarded.

“It looks like a Gummi ship!” Sora whispers to Goofy and Donald. It works just like one, too – while it doesn’t offer any sort of advanced camouflage, it can fly at slow speeds at many different altitudes. Sam pilots the ship to the outskirts of town, where their ghost allies were waiting in anticipation, just outside the ghost shield but incapable of coming in. Sora recognized every single one of them from the meeting Phantom took them to – guess some of them managed to convince the rest to help!

“Come on in!” Sam opens the hatch of the ship. “We’re gonna drop you off at Pariah Dark’s lair. Phantom is fighting the big bad himself, but he’ll need all the help he can get to deal with his army!”

“How’re we all supposed to fit in there?” A ghost in pajamas asks.

“Pretend it’s a 5 star Fenton Thermos!”

Sora isn’t sure what to make of ghost physics – these ghosts have mass, but multiple can occupy the same spaces in matter by…phasing through each other? Others changed their sizes to accommodate the lack of space. What’s it like for the ghosts when they’re inside the Fenton Thermos?

“Phantom’s in position!” Tucker looks up from his PDA. “Opening the ghost shield in 5…4...3

2…

1!”

He presses a button, and Sora can see that section of the ghost shield around the Fentons’ residence opens up, and a figure flies out. Phantom was _inside_ the ghost shield, but the other ghosts were all outside? How did that happen?

Whatever, it wasn’t important now.

Sam pilots the ship expertly across the glowing green atmosphere, until they reach the edge of a floating island quite a ways from Amity Park. Presumably, this was the bad guy’s lair – an army of mindless ghost soldiers and heartless stood, guarding from any intruders. The ship’s hatch opens up, and the ghost allies all pour out, glad to no longer be cramped in the vehicle. Sora, Donald, and Goofy also jump out, reuniting with Phantom on the front lines – all suited up in that Ecto-Skeleton that was in the Fentons’ house not that long ago.

“Be careful, everyone!” Sam’s voice booms over the ship’s intercom. Sora responds with an affirmative salute.

“What took you so long?” Phantom asks Sora.

“I could say the same to you,” Sora smirks. “Now, let’s do this!”

Phantom starts by emitting a giant blast of energy from his finger that decimates both heartless and enemy ghosts instantly.

“Woah, maybe this’ll be…!” Phantom staggers, steadying his balance on his feet, as the Ecto-Skeleton drained him. “…gotta conserve my energy.” 

“We’ll take care of the small fry, ghost child,” a ghost ally – Skulker, if Sora remembers correctly – calls out. “Go ahead and take out Pariah directly!”

“Got it!” Phantom flies over the battle field, and directly into the castle that loomed behind the enemy lines.

“Let’s help him!” Sora tells Goofy and Donald. “We can use the keyblade to lock the sarcophagus!”

Sora fights the heartless and ghost soldiers that come his way, making steady progress through the field. With Donald and Goofy covering his flanks and using health potions, the trio maintain their full HP. Halfway through the battlefield, they’re stopped by a particularly menacing ghost – not Pariah Dark, but someone high enough to exert some command over his army. A knight, sitting on a horse with a flaming mane. Sora steels his keyblade.

“Get out of our way!” Donald cries.

“Who are you?!” Goofy asks, shield at the ready.

“I am the Fright Knight,” the ghost knight steps down from his horse and draw his sword, an eerie menacing glow coming from it. “Maleficent sends her regards,”

In one quick draw, the knight feints a left, before attacking Sora’s right, his sword piercing Sora’s abdomen. Sora doesn’t remain awake long enough to register any pain – his world is instantly swallowed by black.

* * *

  
_I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately. Like, is any of this for real, or not?_

Sora wakes from his nap near the ocean shore, just a few minutes’ walk away from his home. What was he doing before he fell asleep?

A feeling of déjà vu sets in when Sora sees Riku standing in the ocean, back turned to Sora and water up to his shin. He turns around, offering Sora a hand.

_If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?_

Worlds? He and Riku and Kairi were going to explore other worlds on their raft! But then Kairi was missing and Riku…

He’s seen this before, hasn’t he? This… This dream.

_A scattered dream is like a far off memory. A far off memory is like a scattered dream_.

Riku puts his hand down.

“I’m disappointed in you, Sora.”

…What? Why?

“You couldn’t protect Kairi. You couldn’t protect our home. I always knew you were weak, but this is _pathetic_.”

The ocean waves swallow Sora. Not sure where Riku disappeared to, Sora returns to shore, only to be greeted by destruction. Heartless, everywhere, destroying the homes, buildings, trees – dirtying the waters. Destiny Islands was in ruins. Sora runs around, looking for survivors, when a light shoulder touch surprises him.

“Kairi?” The wind swept her reddish hair, revealing blank eyes.

“Sora, why did you leave?”

He didn’t leave – he was looking for her! But the reason he was looking for her was because he couldn’t protect her. He couldn’t protect any of his friends, or his home! Why was he so weak? Even with the keyblade, he couldn’t accomplish anything. Sora wanted to say all this, but his mouth felt sewn shut.

“You don’t need this.” Suddenly Kairi is holding the keyblade. His keyblade? She pushes him, and suddenly Sora is falling.

He hadn’t fallen from a ledge, but he was falling for an impossibly long time.

_W̢͍̦̼̰̘̗̪̰̟̟͖̬̖̗͚ͦͫ̊̾̊̿ͨ͛̐ͧ̈̊̈̓ͦͪ͜a͉̪͍̦̜̩͚̝͇̞̫̖͉̩̲͂̋̿ͬͥͥ̑̉̉ͫͪ̅͂̐͗̎̽͘͢k̴̛͕̜̣̘̻͇̖͉͖͔͔̣͙͚̫͖̭ͨ̊̔̂̿͂ͭ̽̆͆̽ͯ̊ͮ̉́̌͞ͅͅę̷̢̯̲͙̗̼̮̻͕̭̞ͩ́͛̎ͯ͛ͥ̈̌ͨ̑ͯ̒̊͑̂͢ ̶ͤ̔̑͆̾̾ͬ̅̒ͥͭ҉̤̞͚̞̣͈̰̱͙ų̴̛̗͉̭̥͚͚̖̹̰͎̖̬͇̻͛ͮ͑͛̽ͪ͗ͬ͐̔̈́ͨ̃̒̔̉̏͢͞p̴̴̛̼̯̥̫̥͍̳͙̳͖̱̜̒ͨ̾͌ͧ̓̃̋̔͑͋͒ͣ̊͑ͧ͗̽͢͞,̝͈̫͉̱͕̯̝̠͍̻͖͚̮̎ͣͩͯͨ̊ͭ͛̈͑͛͑̑̍͟͞ͅ ̷̛̫̙̞̹̬̺̖̫̘̫̩̪͈̖̭̙̘̜͊̌̈́̿͑̉͑ͥ͌͗͗Sͩ̌͑͐ͫ̇̏̊ͫ̏̓̊ͮ̚̚͏̵̡̗̜̪͇̳o̦͎͈̘̝̙̟̹̳̻̻̬̺̽͗̇̿͟͝ͅr̶̯̪͈͎ͣ͐͛͛̊̄ͩ͟a̒̔͛ͩ҉̢҉̶͇͚̮̱̼̜͙̼̬͉̳̺͙͇͙ͅ!̛͍͕̥̣̲̳̫̼̮͎͙̖̼̿̑̾̏ͯ͗͠ͅ_ ̖̹̭̩̜

He hits the water, head first. He’s swimming to the surface, but it’s getting further and further away. His lungs are burning for air. He needs to breathe soon, but he can’t. He can’t breathe! He was drowning! Riku left him and Kairi pushed him and –

He can’t breathe he can’tbreathehecanthecanthecant–

Sora stops falling. The beach is back to normal. The water is...clean. And he can breathe again. 

W̵̱̗̘̯̣̮͇͗̓̏͛͆̓a̬̫̦͡k̲̲͕͎͈̄͆̄͗̉̍ͪ͡eͮͬ͋ ͇̣̜͖ú̢̳ͫ͊̇̚p̺̳̺̌̈̔,̹̯̥̜ ̍͏͉͔̦̘S̤͓̝͛ͥͪo̞͔̤͎̼ͧ̊̓͒̏̏ͬͅṛ͑̓̅̆a̧̹͎͓ͣ͋̓̉̚!͙͎̲̝̍ͣͫ͂̊̑̅͡

That was …Goofy and Donald’s voices! He could hear them!

Sora sits up, and gasps awake.

* * *

The Fright Knight was aiming to get the keyblade wielder’s companions next, but a Thundaga spell burned through him and sent his mare trotting away in the battlefield.

“What did you do to him?!” Donald’s camouflage spells had worn off in the surprise attack, reverting him and Goofy to their anthropomorphic forms. He was cradling Sora’s unconscious body – it wasn’t bleeding from being pierced with a sword, but something was _wrong._

“My sword, the _Soul Shredder_ –” the knight attempts to pick it up, but the burns on his arms make it impossible to lift the sword anymore. “ – makes anyone pierced by it live their worst nightmares. Over. And over. And over.” The knight laughs, a grimacing, ugly, laugh.

“Wake him up!” Goofy demands.

“Now why would I do that? Maleficent wanted me to –” Donald doesn’t let him finish, firing another Thundaga spell. The knight fizzles out of view – just like all ghosts do when defeated by magic.

Through all that, Sora remains unconscious. Slapping him awake is unsuccessful. Cura spells don’t seem to have any visible effect on him, either. But whatever dream he’s having seems to be a bad one – Sora is twitching and groaning in his sleep. That gives Donald an idea.

To combat whatever status condition Sora was afflicted with, he’ll have to give him another Status affliction to cancel out. Goofy is skeptical, but desperate, since nothing they’ve tried has worked so far.

“Stop!”

Donald puts as much magic as he can in his next healing spell, leveling it up instantly.

“Curaga!”

Sora bursts awake, covered in sweat and dizzy from…what he’d just seen.

“Guys, that was. I couldn’t. I –” He wraps Donald and Goofy in tight hugs, in between gasps and sobs.

“Sora, it’ll be ok,” Donald pats the young boys back. While Donald is small, he’s much older than Sora; he’s _seasoned_. Sora was so young to have gone through so much at such an early age.

But that’s what friends are for. They make the world just a little bit easier to live in. 

* * *

There were two battles going on in heart of Pariah’s keep. One between Danny and The Ghost King, the other between Vlad and…Maleficent. Maleficent had enlisted the help of Vlad in waking up Pariah Dark, spouting some ancient lore about keys and hearts that Vlad hadn’t the time to fully research the validity of. Vlad had helped because he was promised the crown of fire and the ring of rage in return – the two artifacts that would establish Vlad as the king of the ghost realm.

He was not promised the destruction of his home – so Vlad turned traitor and helped Phantom in the final stretches of the battle.

“In what world is it ever a good idea to wake up the horseman of the apocalypse?!” Phantom yells in Vlad’s direction. The younger half ghost swings a fist at Pariah Dark, landing a hit but barely making a dent at the ghost king’s armor.

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who used the Fright Knight’s Soul Shredder to win a haunted house contest on Halloween,” Vlad fires an ectoblast in Maleficent’s direction – the woman deflects it with a wave of her cape.

“Ugh,” Phantom hated that Vlad had a point. “I owned up to my mistake, and took responsibility for it. I hope you do, too.”

“I can relieve you of all your responsibilities,” Maleficent starts. “And your existence!” She launches a stream of fire towards Vlad.

She had offered to defeat Pariah Dark, but Vlad knew she had no intention of doing so. When Vlad uncovered her nefarious intentions, she stopped pretending to negotiate with Vlad. Maleficent dropped the act when she believed she was close to winning.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!”

Sora enters the chamber, ready to trade blows.

“Oh, the keyblade wielder. Have you found your friends yet?” She smirks, her grin devilishly wide.

“I’d never have to if you’d just left our home alone,”

Aware the Goofy and Donald were exhausted from the battle outside, Sora had to keep the battle short. Between the three of them, they had just enough mana to launch a few spells that could make or break the battle.

“Fira!” Sora aims at the arch above Maleficent. The rocks crumble, trapping Maleficent before she noticed the rubble falling overhead. Sora immediately turns his attention to Phantom. Phantom was trading blows with Pariah Dark, the two almost even. If not for the ecto-skeleton, Phantom would have lost to Pariah Dark within the first blow. With Sora and Vlad joining to help, they have a real shot now.

“You can’t do anything by yourself!” Pariah booms over Phantom. “Weak! Useless! And you have to rely on your friends! And even they are weak!”

Phantom seemed to flinch, but Sora would not have any of this.

“We accomplish a lot more together than we do alone! That’s what friends are for!”

“We’re stronger together!” Goofy adds.

“Our friends are our power!” Donald exclaims.

“You can’t win,” Pariah Dark grins. “Power is a burden that neither of you are capable of handling.”

“We don’t have to win,” Phantom adds. “We just have to make sure that _you lose_.”

From Pariah’s blind spot, Vlad fires a weak ecto-blast, just enough to knock the crown off the head. Donald catches it.

“Stop!” Donald fires, paralyzing the ghost.

Phantom puts the suit’s thrusters at full power, pushing Pariah Dark back into his coffin – The Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, that Goofy had positioned and propped open.

The King of Ghosts was pushed. Slowly. Inch by inch, until…he’s pushed in the coffin. It’s a miracle he was Stopped for that long, that Phantom was able to push him far enough, fast enough. Goofy slams the Sarcophagus shut. Sora’s points his keyblade at the coffin, magically locking the coffin shut.

It was…done. The battle felt longer than it was, exhaustion weighing on limbs. Phantom looked like he was about to pass out - do ghosts sleep? 

“Cure!” Sora uses a little of his mana to restore everyone’s energy. Phantom feels his exhaustion ebbing away. Vlad is surprised at his energy increasing, though he wasn't as spent as Phantom. 

“Not sure how you did that, but thanks,” Phantom says to Sora.

“We wouldn’t have won this fight without the help of you and your…furry friends woah.” Oh no, that came out a little rude. “You have cool interesting friends.” Phantom decides that shutting up now would be a good idea. He’d never seen any living being with anatomy like Sora’s friends, it was almost like…like…

“That’s quite an interesting weapon you have there, shaped like a key,” Vlad says pointedly to Sora. “And it works like one, too. How does it–?”

“Drop it, Vlad.” Phantom sighs. “Remember what we said about _taking responsibilities_.”

“That Maleficent was a cunning one,” Vlad groans. “Playing us all like chess pieces.”

“Maleficent!” Sora turns sharply, to where he’d last beaten her. Sora had beaten her with a single magic spell – it seemed too easy, but maybe because she was weakened in battle by Vlad a little already? Maleficent was nowhere to be seen – not under the pile of rubble, and not anywhere in Pariah’s chamber. Guess she used the rubble as a cover for escape. It was frustrating – she obviously knew something about what happened to Kairi and where Riku was, but Sora was no closer to finding them than before.

Vlad couldn’t care less about what happened to his ally turned enemy – with a flick of his cape, Vlad teleports out of the chamber, leaving the Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Phantom behind. Phantom still couldn’t teleport, he had to figure that out soon.

Meanwhile, the gears in Phantom’s head start turning, coming to stunning conclusion. “Maleficent was out to conquer our world, just like she did for so many others,” Phantom says – it’s a statement, not a question. “And you said that she…– took over? over ran? – your home,” Phantom is staring intently at Sora.

“Then that means…that means…”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy stare at each other, then nod slowly in agreement. The ruse was up – it’s happened a few time, but nothing a few vows of secrecy couldn’t help. Besides, Phantom was cool and friendly, so Sora had no problem with him finding out this secret.

“Yeah, we’re from another world.” Phantom’s eyes go wide with delight.

“You’re from outer spaCE?!” Well, Phantom technically wasn’t wrong?

“That explains your friends! And your weapons! And magic?! But you still speak English! What’s your ship like?! And what other planets have you seen?!!!”

Not the reaction Sora would have expected, but this only cemented the idea that Phantom was cool. It almost reminded him of…

“Hey, your world is light years away from the kind of contact we’re having right now!” Phantom frowns.

“Light years is a measure of distance, not time.”

“Yeah, I know what I said,” Sora laughs. “You remind me a lot of Fenton. That love of space and you even have similar sounding names!” Phantom freezes.

“Y-Yeah,” Phantom responds a little too stiff. As if...

“You mean you’re– ? You…ARE Fenton?”

Phantom doesn’t deny it.

“Wow, you’re so cool! That’s how you got around ghost shield, huh?”

“Eheh, y-yeah,” Danny loosens up his posture. “Listen, don’t tell–“

“Anyone. Of course.” Sora completes. “That goes both ways. Please don’t tell anyone we're from another world.”

“You got it,” The two handshake.

“So, you told me to ‘cover my face’ and keep a secret identity when I was fighting heartless in Amity Park,” Sora starts. “But you’re not even _trying_! Seriously? You changed like…4 letters of your name, and you have the same face. The only thing is your hair is different, but is that enough to throw people off your trail?”

“Hey! It’s a humanizing name! And it’s worked for a whole year! No one suspects a thing!”

“What about your parents?” Danny stiffens. “You took the ecto-skeleton without telling them, didn’t you?”

“I’ll tell them...eventually,” Danny doesn’t meet Sora’s face. “It’s…well there’s a lot to get through before I can tell them. But I’m not doing this alone. I have friends that know and help, so it makes this…easier.”

He must be talking about Sam and Tucker.

“That’s good. I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t have Goofy and Donald’s help.”

They had more in common than either had realized.

“Let’s get back to Amity Park now, yeah?”

* * *

With Maleficent ~~missing~~ defeated and Pariah Dark sealed, Sora’s trio had no reason to stay any longer. While Sora was sure that Danny’s friend Tucker would’ve loved to see the inside the of Gummi ship, Goofy and Donald didn’t want to increase the number of people in on their secret. They came back to Amity Park via the Fenton’s ghost portal, and parted ways not long after.

Phantom’s public approval rating seemed to skyrocket after his ‘heroic’ actions against Pariah Dark, so…maybe that’ll make it a little easier for Danny to tell his parents. Sora could only hope.

“You know, we never did figure out what Maleficent wanted from this world,” Sora says out loud. “What was she trying to accomplish by waking Pariah Dark?” Goofy and Donald shrug. Whatever it was, they’d stopped her and won, so it didn’t matter.

In the final battle, the ghost king’s crown was knocked off his head, but no one paid attention to what happened to his ring – the other symbol of Pariah Dark’s power. During a pivotal moment of the battle, Maleficent cast a particularly powerful and long lasting Stopga – long enough for her to uncurl the ring from Pariah’s finger and disappear before any party present realized what happened. With this ring, she could control and summon stronger heartless – but it would be a few months before keyblade wielder and his companions discovered that.

“So…I kinda forgot about sealing the worlds or whatever,” Sora confesses sometime after they’ve flown away from Amity Park. “I mean, I did seal that coffin right?”

“Awww phooey,” Donald facepalms.

“I thought it was the ghost portal in the Fentons’ basement at first,” Sora starts. “But it wasn’t. And since natural ghost portals have existed in Amity Park _before_ the Fentons build the ghost portal…I thought that wasn’t what I was supposed to seal.

“I don’t think it’s two worlds occupying the same space, like we thought at first,” Goofy adds. “I think it’s one world split in two.” 

Donald is silent, brows furrowed deep in thought, but eventually agrees.

“Makes sense when you consider the Pariah Dark’s lore. Creatures afraid of him would run to the human realm. So,…the worlds must have been split, but not separate, for a very long time.”

“That world was so cool! With ghosts! I hope we can visit it again someday,”

“I need to work on my assimilation magic.” Donald proclaims. “We had to disguise ourselves as humans this time, but what if we have to disguise ourselves as lions or mermaids? We need longer lasting and better spells.” 

“I’m sure there’s some worlds where we don’t need any assimilation magic what so ever,” Sora thinks. Maybe that would make Donald less tense every time they land in a new world.

“And we need to be careful how much we leave behind in each world, too. We enrolled Sora in a school, so that’s gonna leave a record behind,” Goofy adds.

“We forgot to remove him from the school roster!” Donald quacks in frustration. “Why did we? – oh boy,”

“Don’t worry about that,” Sora smirks. “Danny’s got it taken care of.”

* * *

“It seems our new student Sora was only in school for the first day. He’s been absent for the past 3 days, and I can’t get a hold of his guardians.” Lancer explains to Principal Ishiyama in frustration.

“Should we call social services?” the principal’s brows were bent deep in worry.

“No need,” a disembodied voice calls out.

“Who said that?!” Lancer and Ishiyama stand up, frantically looking around for the source of the voice.

“I did,” Phantom appears in view.

“Ah! Inviso-Bill! I mean…Danny Phantom!”

“You’re not gonna…hurt us, are you?” Ishiyama hides behind Lancer.

“No, of course I’m not gonna hurt you! If I wanted to, I would have already,” Phantom looked somewhat annoyed. “I didn’t save Amity Park just to hurt its citizens, jeez. I just came to talk.” Phantom straightens his posture – Lancer can’t believe this ghost was well formed enough to be aware of its body language like that. “That new student you were talking about? He was a ghost.”

“W-what?! But I met his uncles! And they’d just moved to Amity Park!”

“Uhhh…they were ghosts too! They moved to Amity Park…because Pariah Dark was taking over the ghost zone.” Phantom says slowly. “Now that we’ve taken care of that, they went back.”

“Oh...” this has Lancer deep in thought. Most of the students in his class hated being there – blatantly disrespecting teachers and the subject matter they learned. Unlike most ghosts, Sora didn’t cause any trouble – he’d had been nothing but friendly and eager to learn.

“Well, I’d be happy to have him as a student anytime he chooses to come back to Amity Park,” Lancer tells Phantom. Many ghosts revisit Amity Park from time to time, so maybe Sora will, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fright Knight makes an appearance. In DP canon, the Fright Knight's sword actually teleports the people it stabs to an island that houses their worst fears - took some liberties and changed it to giving them nightmares, to better suit kh verse
> 
> Thanks for sticking around!


End file.
